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PhD students to take part in European Pain Schools

PhD students in the Centre for Pain Research at Leeds Beckett will participate in three prestigious European ‘Pain Schools’ this year.

The European Pain Federation is a multidisciplinary professional organisation in the field of pain research and medicine, consisting of 37 National Pain Societies from countries across Europe and more than 20,000 physicians, researchers, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and other healthcare professionals.

Each year the Federation runs a series of ‘Pain Schools’, fully-funded short courses aimed at developing pain management knowledge and skills for young health professionals.

This year, three PhD students in the Centre for Pain Research have been successful in their applications to participate in the Schools.

From 21 to 25 May, Gourav Banerjee (pictured top) will attend the Maribor Pain School for Cancer Pain and Palliative Care in Slovenia. Gourav is undertaking a PhD on kinesiology taping for cancer-related symptoms.

From 25 to 29 June, Priscilla Wittkopf will attend the Krakow Pain School for Translational Pain Research: From Lab to Clinic in Poland. Priscilla’s PhD is looking at the effects of distorting the visual appearance of body parts on pain perception.

From 9 to 12 October, Sabri Garoushi will attend the Bergamo Pain School for Neuropathic Pain, in Italy. Sabri’s PhD focuses on neuropathic pain in diabetic patients from the Middle East.

Professor Mark Johnson, Director of the Centre for Pain Research, said: “We have had PhD students participating in European Pain Schools in the past but to have three of our students invited to participate in three different Pain Schools at one go is amazing! Competition for places is extremely high, especially with European medical doctors, so the Executive Board of the European Pain Federation Committee on Education must have been very impressed with the calibre of our past and present students. This reflects our international reputation not only as a Centre for Pain Research but also for supporting high calibre PhD students. We are really proud of the achievements of our PhD students and by their ambition to grasp opportunities with both hands. They truly are inspirational.”

A group of Leeds Beckett University graduates with a cleaning booking service, a successful contestant on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, and a creator of handcrafted bags are among the winning entries in the 2018 Business Advantage Awards.